Saturday, February 28, 2015

aljazeera | Overseas the moustacheless, bushy beard is not so identifiably hip-hop
and has caused considerable controversy, with security officials in
Europe and the Middle East mistaking the Philly for a jihadi beard. In
February 2014, for instance, Lebanese police arrested Hussein
Sharaffedine (aka Double A the Preacherman), 32, a Shia rapper and
frontman for a local funk band. Internal Security Forces mistook him
for a Salafi militant and handcuffed and detained him for 24 hours. In
Europe hip-hop heads such as French rapper Médine — a Black Powerite
who wears a fierce beard that he calls “the Afro beneath my jaw” —
complain of police harassment. French fashion magazines joke now
crudely about "hipsterrorisme." European journalists are descending on
Philadelphia to trace the roots of what they call la barbe sunnah and
Salafi hipsterism.

But there is more to the story than these superficial inquiries. The
synergy between Islam and black music in Philadelphia has a long
history. As such, the global spread of the moustacheless beard cannot
be understood in isolation from the rich blending that took place
between various strands of Islam and music in black America.

City of Brotherly Love

Philadelphia’s Muslim elders are quick to list the jazz greats who
lived in or came out of the City of Brotherly Love since the 1930s —
John Coltrane, Lynn Hope, Pharoah Saunders, Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, George
Jordan and the Heath Brothers. Many of these artists had an intimate
relationship with Islam. Saxophonist Hope was featured prominently in
Ebony magazine’s famous 1953 article on Muslim jazz artists, sitting on
the floor of his Philadelphia home smoking hookah with his two young
sons in fezzes.

“The history of Islam in Philadelphia is reflected in the music. Some
artists were openly Muslim, others more private,” says Imam Nadim Ali,
a celebrated jazz deejay and community leader who spent his youth in
Philadelphia. “We knew Pharaoh Sanders as Abdulmufti. One of his first
albums from 1966 was called “Tawhid.” Likewise, George Howard was a
great funk/smooth-jazz artist. Kenny G co-opted his style. We knew
Howard as Tahir — I grew up with him in West Philly. But when he died,
his family buried him in a Christian cemetery. This sometimes happens
when converts to Islam don’t leave a will.”

Jazz artists in the 1940s and ’50s came to Islam through the Ahmadiyya
movement, a heterodox Islamic movement that emerged in 19th century
India and developed a significant presence in Philadelphia. As the
Nation of Islam gained followers, it cast its cultural influence on the
music scene. Sun Ra, who lived in Germantown for 25 years, for
instance, was not Muslim. But he claimed to be a distant cousin of
Nation of Islam founder Elijah Muhammad and was inspired by the
movement’s teachings. Sun Ra traveled to Cairo and collaborated with
Egyptian drummer Salah Ragab, recording numbers such as “Ramadan in
Space Time.”

As members of soul and R&B groups such as the Delfonics, the Five
Stairsteps, the Moments, Kool & the Gang and Earth, Wind & Fire
embraced Islam in the 1960s, the dialogue and tensions between Sunni
Islam and the Nation of Islam found expression in music in various
cities. In Philadelphia old heads recall Kool & the Gang’s visiting
from New Jersey in the early 1970s to perform songs such as “Whiting
H&G” (a reference to the frozen fish that the Nation of Islam was
selling) and “Fruitman,” both tracks praising the Nation of Islam’s
economic initiatives and dietary rules. Even non-Muslim artists paid
homage to what they saw as a positive movement that taught
self-reliance. Philly native and Grammy-winning crooner Billy Paul
never embraced Islam, but he recorded an album called “Going East” in
1971 and gave a shout-out to Muhammad and Malcolm X in his 1976 track
“Let ’Em In” — perhaps the first popular song to sample a speech by
Malcolm X (“You’ve been misled/ You’ve been had/ You’ve been took …”),
years before hip-hop artists began doing so.

Urban renewal
At the heart of these decades-old attempts to use faith and art for
community building stands Luqman Abdul Haqq, a real-estate developer
who has harnessed the energies of diverse Muslim groups to revitalize
Philadelphia’s southeast area. Better known as Kenny Gamble, he is the
founder of Philadelphia International Records and is considered one of
the fathers of disco and R&B — specifically, a subgenre called the
Philadelphia sound. In the 1970s, with longtime partner Leon Huff, he
recorded dozens of hits for artists such as the O’Jays, Teddy
Pendergrass and Patti Labelle, producing almost 200 gold and platinum
records.

In the early 1990s, Luqman moved back to Philly and established
Universal Companies, a nonprofit that includes a housing-development
initiative, a charter school and a social services agency. Universal
has since refurbished more than 1,000 homes and created enclaves where
Muslims own businesses and live near mosques. “We are continuing the
cultural revolution that began among African-Americans in the 1960s, a
cultural revolution based on Islam,” he says. “The Nation of Islam was
a vehicle that came to the need of African-Americans, teaching do for
self.”

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comments:

as always, superb eye Ed. what were they calling out at the end with the grecian gown and the little ionian cap on the girl? also, talking about appropriation, what do you think about the juxtaposition between the source and this Medine knockoff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g5ZF6DUrHI

I cannot agree with you there - Chief Keef is definitely an original and everybody copying off Keef and that one video. The thing with Chief Keef style is he portrayed an authentic South Side of Chicago black youth culture marginalized by white privilege opportunities but they still going to be around starting shit. The industry wasn't ready for that kind of organic Chief Keef blowup as these other rappers go about with their fake portrayals of the life while these South Side of Chicago cats were really about on that life and was just raw - that was the stuff they don't like, snitch cats, playing both sides. You cannot talk that and then drop "Maybach Music" every 3 minutes on your track.

I would compare Medine more to Immortal Technique who points out the hypocrisy of racism and how Zionists portray Islam with stories after stories of hypocrisy. Medine is more for pointing out stuff and programming further radicalism while Chief Keef is another expression of hip-hop that flaunts that we here and don't give a f*ck what you think either...

We have not reached "peak beard" as many data scientists predicted. I think clean shave is extinct as well as fades as urban barbershops are dropping like flies over the past few years. But something from the article stood out to me:

"The early 1990s saw the rise of a conservative Salafi movement in Philadelphia and other urban centers..Spearheaded by young Americans who had studied in Saudi Arabia, Salafi preachers spoke out against Sufi practice and music in general.."

Are these Arab men or African-Americans as the article fail to point out this important point - I wonder how the expats who moved to Ghana feel about the kufi dashiki Libya-loving COINTEL victims still here talking about Afrocentricity..just curious...

Based on the shootings at the CIAA basketball tournament this past weekend - it is clear that 'Hip Hop Voice Of The Street Pirate" is not the "radical/revolutionary genre" of music that it thinks that it is.

Even "Jasiri X" who believes that he is a "conscious radical" can't escape the bindings of American progressive fundamentalism that would have him criticizing Obama for continuing Western Imperialism, so instead Jasiri is exclusively focused upon "The Police" in America these days.

Are you pointing to "No Burqa" is hypocritical relative to "The Catholic Nun" outfit?

From my perspective of the City Of Philadelphia:

* In the 1970s through the 1990's the Philadelphia Catholic Schools proved to be a sanctuary for Black parents seeking to avoid the inferior public schools in their community to offer educational hope to their children.

As the White Catholics traditional Catholic church parishioners began to leave the city and more "laity" began teaching in these schools and thus demanding Full Salary and Benefits - the economics of these schools changed.

Those "Nuns With Cover" who gave their life to the church and who lived off of a basic stipend and not a salary began to be a scarce resource to educate the new crop of students.

Today the Catholic Church Of Philadelphia has closed some former powerhouse schools that caused even those of us who had moved away 25 years ago to gasp. (Think the Chicago Public Schools closing).

My basic point is: To focus on the Nun and the "Covered Muslim Woman" misses the larger point about the material "Social Justice" that the Catholic nun had radiated into the "Non-Catholic Community".

IN MY OPINION - the argument should go beyond a piece a material worn by a woman per the man-made religious rituals - and instead look at the "FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES" that the community claims for itself (example: QUALITY EDUCATION AS THE MEANS FOR ACHIEVING SOCIETAL EQUALITY" and then look at the effectiveness of a given body of thought to compel the men and women who will carry out this mantra to "YIELD THEIR SELFISH WANTS" to the "CHURCH/ COMMUNITY".

Is a woman who wears "Indian Virgin Hair" on her head, purchased from a Korean - and then who is seen protesting on the television news - telling the masses that her community is being "Under Resourced" and that she needs to compel people to VOTE as the means of shaking loose more resources from the state - a WOMAN OF MORE CONSCIOUSNESS than one who wears a burqua?

One need look no further than Kief and the other little scrawny baby boys to see that the Lord of the Flies is a piss poor substitute for The 300 - nevertheless, there's is the soundtrack of rebelliousness.

The Protestant evangelical xtians aren't about anything. You know they really believe in the rapture. So that may get in the way of supporting future generations. Jesus can come back at any moment so there is no future. What do they need schools for?

Pray-tell that you imagine the response to the proposal from the UK Anglican Church (or the "American Friends Society") to the "Prophetic Black Christian Political 'Civil Rights/Social Justice' Church Of America - that they fold their operations into an operation that has a SUPERIOR history in engineering a society of "Social Justice".

Whereas today the "Americanized Negro" looks to Europe as a perfect reference for Education, Economic Mobility and Single Payer Health Care - the very institutional forces that brought this to fruition is now asking the "Black Racial Services Machine" to temporarily demote itself so that the BLACK RANK & FILE will be recast from "Political Activism Through Voting Against The White Right Wing Enemy", into roles in which the have to YIELD THEIR SELFISH INTEREST to "The Social Activist Church" - becoming the "Nuns and Fathers" who once ran the "Catholic Hospitals", "Catholic Schools", "Catholic Charities".

Just as the Korean store owner who spends 14 hours per day perched up in his store and as a result his home is absent of "cable television" , "flat screen television" or the $3999 plush leather sofa set that he purchased from "Rooms 2 Go"....................so too is it the case that the crown jewel called "The Velocity Of The Dollar", retained within the Black community would forever be altered as a result of this grand REPURPOSING OF THE NEGRO.

My direct question to you, sir, is if YOU BELIEVE that .....* The ANGLICAN CHURCH could make reference to the legacy of the Catholic Church operating many of the "Blacks Only" hospitals during Segreation* The "Society Of Friends" can make reference to the fact that they ran most of the "Underground Railroad" stops as the Negro sought to evade the oppression of slavery...............

PARLAYING this history - as we are on the verge of "Selma 50", to convince the BLACK RACIAL SERVICES MACHINE to detach from "WHITE POLITICAL PROGRESSIVISM" and instead cast their lot upon these OTHER MOVEMENTS that have a history in BUILDING UP BLACK INSTITUTIONS THAT SERVE THE LEAST OF THESE rather than POLITICAL POWER that HOOKS THE LEAST OF THESE INTO VOTING FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE??

lol, negroes need to get into RCIA in droves http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rite_of_Christian_Initiation_of_Adults - repopulate their dying urban parishes, pay their cathadraxis, and fully support and become active in and with the highly advanced and evolved institutionalized civilizing power of the church. Everything else is delusional conversation....,